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Wednesday, December 5, 2012

So for seemingly no apparent reason, I thought today I would post about apps. I guess I should clarify: particularly game apps. I've never really utilized my full app potential, even with my previous android phone (I never really fully understood what it did), until recently. And maybe it's them, or maybe it's other stuff, but lately I just want nothing more than to plug in my head headphones and play apps, or sleep. Everyday.

Guh, I guess those times come for everyone, though. Anyway, here are some apps I'm currently taken with. If you can think of any great ones you would recommend I try, please let me know! :S

LINE POP ★★★★★

This game is completely amazing and addicting as hell. The whole point is really just to tap on the little faces and move them into rows of three so they disappear and new ones drop down, and of course there's a time crunch. It's a simple concept, but I've had to set my phone down and back away slowly after finding myself wailing like a crazy person at the screen more than once since I've started playing.

Hearts refill quick too, so you can play often. And unlike other free apps, they aren't so stingy with giving you jewels (game bonus money), so you don't feel like you're being psychologically coerced by a boardroom of money-grubbing shitheads as you play. :D

お洗濯 (Laundry) ★★★☆☆

This game I like a lot because it's cute. Very simple, you just do what mum does and gather the laundry in your basket as it flies by, and it gets faster. I don't know why, but there are also cats and old men hanging up there as well.

It's cute and simple, so I recommend it if you're just looking to pass some time. However, once you play a few times, unless you're really determined to get all the damn laundry in the basket or die trying like I am, it's a little non progressive.

理想な彼氏メーカー (Boyfriend) ★★☆☆☆

This game looked too amusing to pass up, so I had to give it a go. Hm, it was kind of fun the first few times I played, maybe just for the novelty of it, but after a few times it gets a bit old. There's nothing to do but buy new clothes, talk, make cookies, and give him kisses and shoves. All that might be ok if he leveled up a little faster, but the level up meter is hella slow and I've kind of lost interest.

The fun thing about this app though is the conversation feature, or talking with "Boyfriend", as he calls himself. (I think Kate even called this "snarky boyfriend app".) Anything you write, his replies are super hilarious. Example;

It always makes me lol, but at the same time, the energy bar for the chat runs out super quick, too, so you can kind of finish playing with this game in about five minutes. It's amusing, though, if you give it a try.

ねこバランス (Neko Balance) ★★★★☆

I love this game. It's made by the same people as the laundry game, and it's simple and sweet as well. There are about 9 levels, and the whole point is just to balance the cats so they don't tumble off the scale. It's adorable and their faces look so cute when they fall.

Very simple and cute game, you can complete it in 10 minutes, but it's still fun when you go back and do it all over again.

Yeah, so there are some apps. I also play a bit of Angry Birds and Pac Man, but everyone knows Angry Birds and Pac Man gives me almost unreal anxiety, so I didn't put those up here. But as I said earlier, if you see any interesting games you recommend me, do tell!

Monday, December 3, 2012

Passes quickly. I came to Osaka last year on November 26th, and already it's December the next year. Somethings feel as though they happened ages ago, like the HETERODOXY lives over summer and tripping to Kobe on that day there was a crazy typhoon. But other things feel like they just happened, like getting my iPhone and doing hanami at the Osaka Castle park.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

So, for the last of my week of "live hell" (this is like a series now) was the GazettE on 10/16 at Kobe Bunka Hall. This was the best show out of the four I've been to so far (I'm off to the two days at NHK Hall next week) and just a generally awesome day. :D

It started simply. I decided that Jiroko would be coming with me to the show, so when she showed up at my apartment for our meet up around noon, I told her she was coming with me and we went.

Kobe isn't far, so we got there in plenty of time and dined on the quality cuisine of Saizeriya. This is Jiroko being excitable.

And here am I, being six years old.

Purikura was taken, as is the tradition. 8D

We finally meandered over to the hall and waited outside in a lively park for a while, watching a bunch of girls in ancient as fuck tour shirts take group pictures and having lulzy chats, until finally it was time to head into the hall.

Jiroko purchased her ticket day of, at which I was enlightened once more to the unprecedented joys of day-of tickets. I got mine from the album insert, so I was in the back of the first floor (still a great view, especially since a bunch of the seats around me were empty; see the photo below), but she actually got first row balcony (though apparently standing was a little dangerous, haha).

As I said before, this was the best of the lives for me so far. It really had a strong feeling of being like the Kansai tour final (I vaguely recall Ruki saying something similar on stage). Lots of good MC, lots of interaction and showiness, and they drug out the encores and the Dogeza for us at the end to, like a proper tour final.

I was really moved by 余韻 and 影踏み this time around. I don't know what the big change was for sure, but they show the words, basically the grieving process, up on the screen and then cut to an ocean before going into 余韻, and something about this time around I felt myself get a little misty-eyed. It was really beautiful and overwhelming, I thought.

This time ヘドロ was a little more strung together than before, which was a little bit of a disappointment for me, but all that was washed away the second Ruki picked up that cane and MY DEVIL ON THE BED started. Fuck yes. This song. I could just watch it and watch it. We threw down (me and the high schoolers beside me, we had fun moshing into each other) hardcore for this. ATTITUDE was amazing again as well.

I think most of the members spoke at this live for a second, too, which was boss. Even if Aoi only asked us if we'd seen his club Zy article and waved it at us for three seconds before returning to living his life. At one point he sat down to play during the Dogeza, and I found myself musing at whether he was bored, haha. And you already know it, but Uruha was throwing down again. I think you can kind of tell he works out a lot, his stamina is tops.

Sunday, November 18, 2012

The third live of my week of "live hell" was the GazettE at Biwako Hall in Shiga prefecture. This was a really great live for many reasons for me. One big one was that I hadn't preorder tickets. I just suggested to K that if she had nothing to do, we could ride over to Shiga on Sunday afternoon after work and see the GazettE. And it was kind of a joke, but then it became real and we went and bought tickets day of.

BEST. IDEA. EVER.

It was great. I've never been to Shiga before, so we hurried out of Osaka on the JR soon after work just to be on the safe side. We arrived in plenty of time to dawdle and derp about the area, take pictures with the bus and what have you. We even got goods without a problem (except for those damn lighters, they'll never be mine)!

The hall was quite big and located right on Lake Biwa, which we ignored like proper bangya with our live-day jitters. Lots of cosplayers here, more so than I saw at any of the other lives.

This big road that lead to a Parco, where everyone was hanging out before the live. The only Parco I had ever been to before this was in Shibuya, so it was lulzy experience, the country Parco. Lots of uncomfortable, drawn out stares and general anxiety by the people around us, which was a little bit of an awkward reminder of where we were. :D

We took this purikura in Umeda after we got back to Osaka. I don't know why I put it here.

K is unenthused about Mos Burger lunch. Me too, man. I think were both feeling a little ill from nerves and waking up as bitchass in the morning to do morning shift at work.

I was also worried our seats would be crazy bad since we were buying day of, but it turned out we got some really nice tickets actually! This actually happened again with Jiroko at the Kobe show, which has opened my eyes a little to the joys of Day-Of Tickets. We were on the 2nd floor (aka the second half of the first floor) right behind the tech booths. I thought there lights would disrupt the concert for me, too, but the didn't. It was magical. Perfect, uninhibited view of the entire band and smack in front of Ruki. It was bliss.

This picture was from after the show of course, but a good idea of what the stage was like for us. The hall wasn't so large inside, either, so they weren't so far either.

Anyway, the show itself was excellent! Really smooth going this time, though, it was a little strange getting started because I couldn't shake the weird of seeing the GazettE out in the country side. But this time the transitions were smooth, everything seemed practiced and efficient.

Uruha, again, was crazy playful. Not too much movement from Aoi or Reita here that I can recall, but then again I had my eyes on Ruki most of the time. He really had down his posing scheme with the lights; man knows how to play with his silhouette. In ATTITUDE when they show the lyrics up on the screen, whenever they put up the whispery part

THE IMAGE IS EMBODIED UNTIL DIE

he would throw his arms out and head back and I swear he looked like some becrazed, headless madman. Like a real, honest-to-god Jekyll and Hyde madman. It was brilliant and it will remain on my retinas until death.

I really wish I could recall some more details about interactions. There was some interesting moment between Uruha and Ruki, but I can't even really recall, nothing big. A little more MC here than previous shows, that was nice. XD

All the bolds, btw, are the performances I liked best from the show. I don't think I mentioned that, haha. But yea, ヘドロ and ATTITUDE and even REQUIRED MALFUNCTION, I feel like they just really tore it up like some grungy rock stars here, I can't even lie. It was at this live when they were playing ヘドロ actually when I felt the heaviness of the new music the easiest, I think, because the heaviness of the new album (imho anyway) is kind of really obscured by the electronic alterations. But hearing them tear it up in ヘドロ without to much editting to cloud them up, it became very clear. I felt even at parts of this song that chords and order were going completely awry and it was 100% amazing.

Anyway, when the hall let out everyone hung around the hall for forever and we were super confused as to why so many people were hanging around and for what purpose, when we realised... Oh yea, we're in the country. People are waiting for their car rides home. Hahahahaha...

Living in the city here will turn your mind into fucking soup. :D

Anyway, when we came out at night and it was dark, we had the most beautiful scenery to look over.

The top is the hall and the bottom are the lights and a giant fountain across Lake Biwa. Really beautiful, kind of like the Florida coast line and resort area from across the water. And stars! We could see so many stars in the sky!

Just behind the hall was the beautiful set up. There was a jazz festival happening, so there was this lovely candle-lit area we walked through for a moment (looked a lot like the lights from the Tokae Festival in Nara). Anyway, with the sounds of the festival activities and other people wandering and the lights, it was really just the most luxurious atmosphere in the world that evening. If K had been a cute boy with nice hair I might have tried something on her, hahaha! Like my standards?

Another great point of this live was that K managed to snatch me up this beauty in the goods line...

dun dun dun

The bear speaker! YAAAAY! I was fucking ecstatic. I was wondering if it was going to be possible at all and now he's mine forever. I love him, but I have to admit there's something creepy about pulling all the wires out the back. Kind of like disemboweling him or something. Kinda creeps me out. D:

That's about all for the Shiga live. Next time I'll post the last of the week of "live hell", the Kobe show. When did this become a live/concert blog? That really isn't my intention here.

Anyway, this came about a week ago in the mail for me! the GazettE x TSUTAYA 「Wear the music!」limited shirt. I ordered the regular version of the album and this baby and sent in a postcard for a chance at winning a special live ticket for SHIBUYA O-EAST on Christmas eve. Of course, there's no way in hell I will win since it's only 1000 people, but had to try and see right? Shirt is fucking adorable.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Good evening! This time I wanted to talk about the first of the two the GazettE OLIX (オリックス劇所) shows on 10/10, since it's the only one I went to, haha. So, after The Predators the day before, I went home, slept, and prepared for the show the next day. I have to say, this week gave me the most ridiculous shoulder pain for some reason.

Derpin' about and getting ready. This day I finally got to pull out my BIG T-shirt (haha, tour good names). This thing is huge and wears like a choir robe in more ways than one. I expect the tour final will just sells us full on priest cosplay. But anyway, I'm in love with this shirt and I would wear it every day of my life if I could. ♥

The pants I am obssessed with as well, from GAL STAR at Rakuten (that took forever to receive for some reason). I own two pairs of these and a solid wine-colored pair. The fit's a little strange, since the waist is far too big and I need to wear a belt, but the legs fit quite nicely. Guess I just have fat legs? Hahaha!

This pair is great, though, and super versatile with all kinds of outfits. The solid colored back is supposed to give the illusion of thinner legs as well (guess I need that, ha)!

Anyway, when I was ready, I left and headed to the park to wait in the goods line in another vain attempt to get the bear speaker that had been sold out at Yokosuka. I thought it would be ok, too, but when I got up to the counter, the girl in front of me got the last one, I kid you not. She stumbled off with it and I stepped up and asked and the lady just point blankly told me in was done. I was so upset! Especially since there was an open box with one sitting right on top behind her. DX

K grabbed it for me in Shiga, though, so now my life is complete! XD

But since I had nothing to do after that disappointment, I headed off to wait for hall opening in a Freshness Burger with this sexy hunk:

I think I just instagrammed for like two straight hours what.

Anyway, finally it was nearing hall open, so I wandered back over to wait in the park outside taking emo pictures and watching some Reita and Ruki cosplayers assaulting one another.

Even though I can't say Yokosuka was a bad show, this show was soooo much better. The mood was better, the crowd was better, and the music sounded a little more together, imho. Even though I was 3rd floor, I had a great view of the entire stage and all the people in our section were really excited and into the show (because there's nothing worse than being at a good show and surrounded by shitheads who wanna stand and gape motionlessly, sorry if that's you).

I also got seated beside the great girl from Tokushima who was there on her own too! It can be super lonely at concerts alone sometimes, so I was super excited to meet someone really nice and friendly like her. We chatted lulzily all the way to the station afterwards, too. ♥

{EN]
Ride with the rockers
TOMORROW NEVER DIESSILLY GOD DISCO
SWALLOWTAIL ON THE DEATH VALLEY
COCKROACH
LINDA ～Candydive Pinky Heaven～

[WEN]
関東土下座組合

Now. If you run through the setlist of the Yokosuka live for a sec, you might notice something similar here. Namely, that they're the same damn setlet, even through the encore. That was a little bit of a let down, honestly, but as I said, this live was so much better that I can't even really complain since they legit seemed like different lives. I was so excited to hear SILLY GOD DISCO again too, so whatev. 8D

This time too I could actually see the video on the screen, which turns out to be mostly clips from the [Diplosomia] PV, but I feel kind of like they're finally put into context with the live happening around them. They were a bit still on the stage this time, but Uruha was working up a storm. Actually I feel like he was doing work over there, for some reason, kicking up dust and dancing. I notice that all of the big solos are his with this album, which makes me a little sad, since I would have liked to see some more Aoi (I worry about that guy).

Back to Uruha, when it came to his solo in SILLY GOD DISCO, he ran up for some attention from Ruki who ignored him and immediately went to get some water... So Uruha followed him back there, and Ruki just kinda looked over in Reita's direction until he finally gave up. It was so sad and hilarious I died a little. ♥

Oh yea, at this live jumping was not allowed. Apparently if we all jump, we disrupt the neighborhood around the hall, so we were supposed to not jump. I'm pretty sure we all did anyway, though. XD

As mentioned before, I didn't go to the second day of OLIX (didn't have the cash moneys, haha, the week before payday sucks). But Jiroko and I went out for dinner and dropped by the venue to grab the special wallpaper from psmobile. And as we wandered the back streets, what should roll up but THE GAZE BUS.

He was like parked on a side of the street for a nice while when we finally got to him, and then it was like as soon as we started trying to take a picture he kept driving off. We ran after and he kept stopped, letting us catch up, and then running off again. If he woulda' climbed out of that bus I woulda' fought him, haha.

Anyway, there was that adventure.

Tried this manicure style this week. I liked it, but I'm about the messiest nail artist you've ever seen.

Monday, November 12, 2012

A week ago Kate, K, a fellow coworker and I went to see the Takarazuka performance of Jin at the Grand Theater. Jin was semi-famous as a drama, a story about a Tokyo doctor who goes back in time to meet Sakamoto Ryoma (a famous figure in Japanese history) and change the course of history whilst shacking up with his hot girlfriend who looks like his dead fiance from the future.

As you can image, it was crazy. There was a song about cholera, people danced, and penicillin was discovered again. :D

Also this happened...

Oh lol.

Takarazuka itself actually turned out to be a really beautiful area. It was my first time there and the view from our path kind of reminded me of part of Paris when I was there last year. We also had perfect sunny weather, so everything was wonderful.

The building along our walk were done in this very pretty European style. Lots of bridges and stairs.

Our coworker and Kate awaiting on the stairs. I loved this, seeing all the little bridges and paths beneath.

While we waited to grab lunch at a small sandwich shop, we had this lovely view of the area.

Lunch time! Very good sandwiches and possibly the most decent coffee I've had outside of Starbucks since I moved here. ♥

Here we are chatting and waiting for the hall to open. This mirror made me look hella pale.

Finally it was time to head toward the theater, this massive thing here.

It was a very pretty hall. The inside too was super classy with these crazy chandeliers that looked like glass ginko leaves. I would have put a picture up, but the ones I took didn't turn out amazing and this post was already rather image heavy.

We wandered through the shop a bit and collected flier and headed into find our seats. Next time we want to find a way to get nice picturey ticket stubs, haha.

A display of Otozuki Kei, top otokoyaku star of Snow Troupe, in the Quatre Reves shop window. Jin is to be her last show before retiring, apparently, which was super incentive for us to see this show! (Personally, she is the only Takarazuka actress whose name I know, haha. And I only know her because of Kate's Romeo and Juliet DVD, lol).

The stage starters for the play (top) and the review, Gold Spark (bottom). The review seemed to over-compensate for the lack of sparkle in the play by blinding us with a stage full of gold suits and dresses. It was fucking amazing. I've never wanted to raid a party-supplies store and change my entire life like that before seeing this.

The play was really good, even if the story was a bit contrived imho, and the imagery, the setting and the music was great. They had several scenes involving all these prostitutes and one who died, and the imagery with the elabourate kimonos with the obi in front, and the huge ornate headdresses was incredible. There were also these dancers who twirled around with glowing green balls like fireflies in the background throughout, which was really nice imagery; you could really sense old Edo, Japan.

It was definitely worth the experience, and I am deadset on seeing The Rose of Versailles in January. I don't think it could ever be a hardcore hobby of mine, but I would certainly follow the little old ladies out to Takarazuka again in the future. ♥

Afterwards we headed back to Umeda for karaoke and okonomiyaki in true Osaka style before our coworker headed back to England. It was a good way to part ways and a perfect day.